Fresno State water polo wins in first ever home game

The Fresno State water polo team beat Fresno Pacific 16-6 in the program's first ever home game.

Friday marked an historic night for Fresno State athletics, as the new water polo program hosted its first ever home match, against Fresno Pacific.

Bulldogs coach Natalie Benson said after, "This is a once in a lifetime thing that they had the opportunity to do, and it was awesome. This is why I came here. This is why wanted to be a part of this program at this school. There's a lot of people who really care about this sport in this community."

More than 850 fans came out, and it didn't hut that both teams represented the local community.

'Dogs goalie Madelynn Garcia explained, "During high school, like there was never huge crowds like this, so it was awesome, it really pumped up during the game. So you make a save or someone scores a goal, to hear the crowd cheering is really cool."

The Bulldogs jumped out on the Sunbirds quickly - scoring just 20 seconds in to the game, and seven times in the first six minutes.

"For us to finally have a game and play as a team and play well together as a team was just super exciting," said Garcia.

Fresno State led Fresno Pacific 12-3 at half, and went on to win 16-6, ending a five game losing streak.

"It's always good to win. Everybody likes to win," said Benson. "I told them from the start, like, 'no matter how well you do, it's never going to be good enough for me. Just understand that.' Because it can always be better, and we're here to become our best."